Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has granted environmental approval to plans for extending the life of Germany’s Prosper Haniel Colliery, near near Bottrop in North-Rhine Westphalia, using its powers to protect the EU’s Natura 2000 conservation sites. Brussels said the potential ecological damage that may be caused by continued operations at Haniel was justified by “reasons of overriding public interest.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AGREEMENT in principle over the proposed reforms to the European Union’s gas liberalisation directives has been secured at the European Parliament’s key industry committee, although it is proposing important changes. MEP’s called for amendments insisting upon close cooperation between the European Commission and national regulators regarding security of supply.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the payment of more than Euro 3.3 billion to the German coal mining industry for this year, while also accepting a restructuring plan for the sector that will reduce subsidies and production until 2007.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SUCCESSFUL trial of electronic tags for livestock has been announced by the European Commission, which has inspired a proposed regulation that would create a unified system for accurately monitoring farm animals across the European Union (EU).

Brussels officials have unveiled in Italy the results of the IDEA project (Electronic IDentification of Animals), a one million animal trial spanning France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers (EU) has removed natural mineral waters and spring waters from the scope of the EU’s geographical indication legislation, that provides protection to names marketing traditionally made drinks from defined regions in Europe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is investigating state aid of Euro 1 million paid by the German government to stationary giant Herlitz, to prevent a subsidiary – Falken Office Products – from going insolvent. Brussels fears this payment may have broken European Union state aid rules.…

BY PHILIP FINE and KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States is calling for countries to offer up more information on their legal pharmaceutical and bulk chemical industries so as to better catch those who are using them for illegal purposes.

In its comprehensive annual report on worldwide drugs activities, the US State Department places some of the blame for many legal chemicals ending up in the hands of illicit drug manufacturers, on government political structures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s anti-fraud office OLAF has been called in to investigate financial corruption at the EU’s Committee of the Regions, the Brussels body representing local governments across Europe.

Its investigators are checking allegations made by Dutch socialist MEP Michiel van Hulten to the European Parliament that the record of financial probity at the CoR “can only be described as alarming.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A LOT of people are saying that cigar smoking may be in serious long-term decline given the way things are going in America. World Tobacco is inclined to treat the figures a little more cautiously. It is true there has almost certainly been a sharp drop in American consumption in recent years but, as Chris Boon, the premium cigar manager at British American Tobacco, points out, there are no true figures: “you draw own conclusions and arrive at an estimate.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MOVES by European health Commissioner David Byrne to lift the EU’s five year de-facto moratorium on GM food have been blocked by Germany, France, Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria. He said new authorisations should begin, because the EU Council of Ministers has approved labelling and traceability rules.…